Clutter affects stress and can trigger overeating, especially of sweet and fatty foods, which may in turn lead to weight gain. If you consider your home a stressful environment, then you’re more likely to feel depressed and have higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone linked with poor health, than if you consider your home restful. A cluttered home is like to make you feel anxious, which in turn can impact your sleep quality, cause fatigue and increase cortisol. Americans waste more than nine million hours per day looking for lost items like keys, remote controls and money.

Here are some ideas to decrease clutter and increase health:

• Create a dedicated space for your keys and phone

• Dispose of clutter on your refrigerator

• Cut down on your wardrobe my donating clothing that doesn’t fit or that you haven’t worn in the past year.

• Make your bed every morning.

• Use a basket or designated spot for remote controls, magazines, books, etc.

• When using bins to organize, always use a label and store infrequently used items on higher shelves.

I hope these ideas help your space to BLOOM in Baltimore, Maryland and beyond. And a special thanks to closetworks.com for this fabulous guest blog post.